Justin Fashanu

B

bouldnorbirdman

A. Trialist
I’m researching the life of Justin Fashanu and hope some of you with long memories can help me out my responding to some questions I have about his time at Forest.

1. Looking at his contribution to the team I think it is fair to say he is generally remembered as being hopeless. But reading Duncan Hamilton’s reports he doesn’t sound that bad. I get the impression he was more another average player in an average team but perhaps became the focus of fans disappointment with how the team was performing and looked clumsy in comparison with Trevor Francis who he ended up effectively replacing. Is that fair? Anyone remember a game when he looked anything like a £1million player?

2. The first report I found of Forest fans vocally turning against him in a match was the game against Notts in January 82. Is that right and do you remember any anti-Fashanu chants when he was still at the club?

3. Finally, did Forest supporters realise he was gay when he was still at Forest?

If anyone has any stories about Justin Fashanu that I’m unlikely to have come across I’d be interested to hear from you.
 
Taylor bought him based largely on one wonder goal he had scored for Norwich. There was a developing distance between Clough and Taylor at the time. Fashanu wasn't openly gay. There were rumours but no one could be certain. Gays were like aliens back then and the notion of a gay football player seemed ridiculous. Football was a bloody hard game. My own take on it was that when Taylor bought him, he had no idea that Fashanu was gay. That would be unusual as Taylor really researched his signings, but Taylor researched if the signings boozed, bet or had too many birds - none of which Fashanu did. I think Clough found out he was gay and got rid.
 
'He's crap, he's black and Norwich want him back.
Fashanu, Fashanu.'

We were racist, but clearly had no idea he was also gay.
 
Do you remember when that chant started? I'm wondering when the fans turned on him and how much he would have heard over how much of the season.
 
Wasn't he referred to at the time as "The African Queen"?
 
I can't decide between the pink ones and the yellow ones tonight.

It's normally pretty easy.
 
Sorry couldn't resist. Tomorrow I'll answer the question. It all depends when you think the Clough and Taylor split occured. Fashanu was as much a part of it as was Robbo. However, Clough was still offering players to go on loan to Derby after everything we believed to be true happened. I think one was Mark Proctor. I'd have to take things very seriously to explain and I have a book of my own to write.
 
A couple of incidents regarding Fashanu and Cloughie.........

I think at one stage when his time at Forest was on the rocks, Clough actually had him removed from the training ground. Don't know if the police were involved in his removal, or was that bit chinese whispers.

Clough was a very hard, self centered and motivated individual, Nottingham is still a relativly small city............Clough challanged Fasanu about his lifestyle and sexuality in a very direct manner, something akin to '' If I want pork sausages I go to a pork butchers, why have you been seen hanging around queers bars ? ''.

As for Fashanu being an average ability player.............that is being kind to him. Yes we had scaled unheard of mountains and witnessed champagne football and talented players..........Fasanu never ever sparkled or even threatened to sparkle, if he had been a burglar, the filth would have been hard pressed to nail him for lurking with intent.

He was an absolute disaster for Forest. The only serious stick I can remember the Trickie fans handing out to Fashanu, was when he returned with Notts County. Clough never stood for his players being hounded by the home crowd
 
On the front cover of 'With Clough by Taylor', there is a distance of one and a half centimetres between the heads of Brian and Peter. That has become my whole life.
 
We bought him for a million and sold him for a hundred thousand. But that's nothing of what actually happened.
 
To say he was signed on the basis of one goal is bollocks; as a teenager he played nearly 100 games for Norwich, averaging better than a goal every three games. Manchester United and Aston Villa were both after him when he signed for us and - let's face it - Pete Taylor didn't make many bad'uns.

It's almost certain that a series of psychological shortcomings ensured he never met his potential; his adult life unfolded tragically; he was blackmailed by the press for years before he was outed. It was common knowledge amongst those who knew him that he was gay, he picked his friends according to those who could tolerate his sexuality - unfortunately he couldn't pick his team mates. He was often bullied in the dressing room, not least by Clough, who forced a couple of players out of the club on account of rumours regarding similar stuff.

It's also wrong to say he suffered in comparison to Trevor Francis, who hardly befit his million pound price tag at Forest (despite scoring the most famous goal in our club's history).
 
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I was quite young at the time but there was a certain amount of excitement at the prospect of pairing Fashanu (who had been playing well for Norwich and as Delaroc says had been scoring regularly) with Francis. Of course Francis left almost immediately afterwards and Fashanu's form disappeared or, to be accurate, never appeared. The whole team was struggling in a way as the league championship/european cup winning side was largely disappearing and Fashanu was thrown into this team in transition.

I don't think that the handling of Fashanu's problems (because being gay in the 1970s and 80s was a problem in public perception) was our club's finest hour.
 
TeenageMutantNinjaBirtles said:
To say he was signed on the basis of one goal is bollocks
Click to expand...

Have to disagree with this.

He was a journeyman player who "shop windowed" himself with THAT goal. We'd probably not have been overly interested in him, and we'd NEVER have shelled out £1m for him otherwise.
 
I even think at one time in desperation, the club sent him to some form of orthopeadic surgeon who specialised in feet, because it was thought he lacked balance.............Now thats really testing the grey cells out..........apologies if wrong but something lurking in my mind about that.
 
Clough admits to bullying him in his autobiography there's pretty much a whole chapter about Fashanu.

I think Clough's ususal style of faux bullying didn't work and destroyed his confidence and because he was gay he either didn't want to intergrate with his team mates or wouldn't.

As time wore on there was a lot of racist and homophobic abuse towards Fashanu but not chants as such really. Megson who was also a disaster signing was followed all round Sheffield where he lived and was told to stay out of the pub where he spent most of time. I guess Taylor and his spies didn't go to Norwich gay bars so didn't realise.
 
Flagman said:
Have to disagree with this.

He was a journeyman player who "shop windowed" himself with THAT goal. We'd probably not have been overly interested in him, and we'd NEVER have shelled out £1m for him otherwise.
Click to expand...

While he undoubtedly was in his subsequent career he wasn't a journeyman when we signed him, what with Norwich being his only real club and all that.

I think his disasterous time at Forest wiped out the market value of that wonder goal hence the bargain bucket £100k value of his transfers.
 
Ok - for "journeyman" read "half decent but by no means spectacular"...
 
Flagman said:
Have to disagree with this.

He was a journeyman player who "shop windowed" himself with THAT goal. We'd probably not have been overly interested in him, and we'd NEVER have shelled out £1m for him otherwise.
Click to expand...

20 years old and with one previous professional club - he certainly wasn't a journeyman. Actually, when we signed him he was one of the hottest properties in British football. Scoring goal of the season certainly raised his profile, how could it not? But he was courted by some very big clubs before joining us.
 
'When you make a mistake over a signing the best remedy is always to admit it, as quickly as possible - and get rid, if you can.
That's what happened to Fashanu, but only after a great deal of trouble. He was sent off again and again. I had to bollock him for throwing his boots into the crowd - God knows how many times he thought we were going to have to provide him with new ones! I once booked him into a nursing home to have an operation on his feet. He had peculiarly shaped big toes and we thought that might be one of the problems, contributing to his awful scoring record. He just didn't turn up for the operation.
Fashanu had a habit of parking where he shouldn't. I became tired and weary of complaints about his parking tickets...
The lad was a mixed up individual. He came to me one day and announced 'I've found God'...
I was getting phone calls telling me Fahanu was frequenting a particular club well known as a meeting place for homosexuals. That in itself didn't bother me too much - it was just that his shiftiness, combined with an articulate image that impressed the impressionable, made it difficult for me to accept Fashanu as genuine and one of us...
It reached the stage where I threatened him with the police... He stood his ground at first, but eventually he was led away [by two policemen] protesting.'

Brian Clough. The Autobiography.
 
Does anyone else remember that song: he's black, he's crap....?

If it happened I think it would have been in Nov 82 when Norwich made a move to take him on loan. By this time Clough was finsihed with him, was criticising him in public and I can't imagine Forest supporters would have had any reservations about joining in the chorus of disapproval. They (you) certanly did when Forest played Notts in December when Fashanu was about to join Notts.

But I'm still interested to know if anyone remembeshow the crowd expressed their disapproval of him in the match against Notts in Jan 82. It must have been strong because Clough dropped him for a few games saying that the crowd wouldn't accept him being in the team.

I was intereted to hear that Francis wasn't rated that highly. I had assumed that his leaving had contributed to Fashanu's unpopularity.
 
I think Francis, like Shilton was a cold calculating player, good enough to do a wonderful job........exceptional in some cases......but I never got over the feeling, they were at Forest whilst it suited them, rather than the club.

Francis leaving had no affect what so ever on the reception Fashanu received. I cannot remember at all Fashanu being singled out for serious abuse, apart from his return with Notts County. He was subject to moans and groans of frustration, the noise of a disgruntled crowd.......the sort of thing liable to dent a players confidence, but never constant abuse.

Gary Charles is the only home player I can remeber getting some serious chants, when he committed a serious foul one night match, even the Forest fans were chanting Off Off Off and cheered whan ared card was produced.

As for the racist angle............little suprised, don't forget Forest produced the first black player to win a full England cap.....a Nottingham lad to boot, VIv Anderson, we were all so proud of that fact at the time, so even in the dark days of Fash, black players had gone well beyond a novelty and were part of main stream football.
 
There was no shortage of racist chanting in the 1970s and early 80s Trent End. What with the National Front "aint no black in the union jack" and the monkey sounds. Don't remember the chant aimed at Fash though, that's not to say it didn;t happen.

I remember his first chant was based on. I think, a British Airways ad - "we'll take good care of you Fashanu Fashanu" which pretty quickly changed into "we're sick and tired of you Fashanu, Fashanu"
 
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